In the round-up: Max Verstappen says the doubt over whether he’d won the championship at the Japanese Grand Prix didn’t spoil the occasion.
In brief
Verstappen: “Doesn’t matter” that rule misreading interrupted 2022 crowning
Two months on from the confusion which surrounded his second Formula 1 world championship win, Max Verstappen says the strange circumstances of the finish of the Japanese Grand Prix didn’t take anything away from his triumph.
“Not for me,” he told De Limburger. “When you’re ever done and you look back, you don’t think about how you became world champion. What matters is that you became it.
“The way doesn’t matter. My father and I have always said that to each other: it doesn’t matter how you win, as long as you win.”
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem addressed criticism of the finale at the official end-of-season gala last week, insisting the rules change behind the confusion came at the behest of teams, not the governing body.
Pre-season testing begins for Formula E’s landmark 2023 season
Formula E’s ‘Gen3’ era has officially began, with pre-season testing using the all-new car and tyres taking place at Valencia on 13th-16th December.
The first day of running was topped by Maserati, returning to single-seater racing after last racing as a team in F1 in 1957.
Their driver Maximilian Guenther was fastest in both Tuesday sessions, with McLaren’s rookie Jake Hughes in second place in the combined classification. Rounding out the top five were Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche), Oliver Rowland (Mahindra) and Guenther’s team mate Edoardo Mortara.
The fastest laps were set in the morning despite rain hitting the session, and both Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans spun off. In the afternoon Hughes and Sergio Sette Camara stopped on track, while technical trouble prevented Norman Nato and Sebastien Buemi from setting lap times.
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Honda rewards junior driver with double 2023 programme
Honda junior Syun Koide won the Japanese Formula 4 title this year, and the brand has rewarded him with two race programmes for 2023.
In single-seaters, Koide will step up to the Formula 3-level Super Formula Lights series with the one-car Toda Racing team, then in sportscars he will race for Team UpGarage in Super GT’s secondary GT300 class.
Koide won nine races in the 2022 Japanese F4 season, making him the third Honda junior to be champion in the series after AlphaTauri F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda…
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